Being diagnosed with cancer as a young adult changes everything. Without warning, your life is on hold, and your ambitions and dreams are suddenly very far away.

I never thought I’d be diagnosed with cancer, let alone at the age of 26 years old. I was diagnosed in September of 2020 after having my second child, right in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. My surgery kept getting delayed due to the pandemic, along with every hospital appointment I had I was required to attended on my own, including being on my own when I was told I have cancer. I’m making my way through treatment now, it feels forever but I can see the end is not to far away now.

The reason I’m here and the reason I want to raise money for CLIC Sargent is because even though I’m 26 I’m only 2 years older than what is classed as a “young adult” and I couldn’t imagine how I would have dealt with having cancer a few years ago, i feel it would have been a very lonely and a much scarier place. I still don’t feel old enough to handle it now, I always feel heartbroken when I see young adults and children go through something as awful as cancer before they have even started to live their life.

Since my diagnosis my world has changed in ways that I really didn’t think it would, I don’t think anyone thinks about what it would be like to have cancer, but I didn’t think it would be like this. It’s not all cute ribbons and being “strong”. It’s lying in bed wide awake trying to comprehend that you have cancer even though your so tired but your brain won’t switch off, it’s praying to get better even though I’m not religious nor do I believe in God but I gave it a go because when you feel desperate you will really try anything, it’s when some other moms told me to make videos and write little letters for my boys for when they grow up incase I’m not there which then caused me to have a breakdown, its going to every appointment and surgery on your own because of COVID, it’s smiling and pretending your okay when really you have absolutely no idea how your feeling but you pretend your okay to not make the other person feel awkward, it’s the people that you thought would see how your doing and they haven’t bothered/pretended you don’t exist or act like you just have the flu, it’s coming across a picture of your graduation and wondering if I’ll be alive to see my children graduate and then crying all over again, it’s the “what if” situations your brain creates at 3am. The list goes on but I’m stopping here because I’m crying (again).

What I’m trying to say is that having cancer has turned my world upside down. It’s made me look at my life differently and its taking a serious toll on my mental health. I never thought I’d be diagnosed with cancer, let alone at the age of 26 years old.

Treatment is leaving me a little weak but I’m aiming to walk 1,000 miles by New Year’s Day 2022 in hopes to raise £1,000 for CLIC Sargent (Young Lives Vs Cancer). You can read more about the charity at how it helps young lives deal with cancer here; https://www.clicsargent.org.uk/what-we-do/the-six-ways-we-help/

I will be sharing my progress and my journey throughout the year, any support either financially through donating or just through sharing this page would be massively appreciated.

Thank you all x